Take a moment to meet Linda Pacovsky: Cambria County softball and bowling coach.
How many years have you been plunging? Eight years. I have plunged in both Pittsburgh & Central PA. It’s a hoot, so I just keep doing it.
Why do you plunge? Because of the picture you see here:
Last spring, Cambria County had their first softball team in 20 years. Linda negotiated field time and borrowed equipment to hold practices. However, at the end of the day, she did not have enough money to buy softball uniforms. So her team wore basketball uniforms to play that first year. And the uniforms were unbelievably hot and not breathable.
Despite that, the team won gold in Division 2 softball during Summer Games at Penn State University.
What got you into coaching? A conversation with another Central Pennsylvania coach. She said that they needed the help, so I thought why not. And now, Linda has no idea why she would stop. She enjoys it so much and sees the impact it has on the athletes.
Linda said that her favorite aspect of coaching is being around the athletes every day and watching their development week after week during practices. She is in awe of the determination her athletes have. The softball team mentioned above had to start from scratch and had varying degrees of knowledge. Some of them didn’t know how to run the bases when they first met and others could hit like a pro. They worked in the cold, in the rain, in the heat and in the end came away with the gold.
Special Olympics Pennsylvania 